anecdote

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A short account of a real incident or person, often humorous or interesting.
  2. An account which supports an argument, but which is not supported by scientific or statistical analysis.
  3. A previously untold secret account of an incident.
verb
  1. To tell anecdotes (about).

Pronunciation

/ˈæn.ɪkˌdəʊt/ [ˈæn.ɪkˌdəʉt] [ˈɛn.əkˌdɐʉt] /ˈæn.ɪkˌdoʊt/ [ˈɛən.ɪkˌdoʊt] En-us-anecdote.ogg /əˈnɛkˌɖoʈ/

Word forms

anecdote anecdotes anecdota anecdoton anecdotum anecdoting anecdoted

Etymology

Late 17ᵗʰ c., from French anecdote, from Ancient Greek ἀνέκδοτος (anékdotos, “accounts unpublished”), from ἀν- (an-, “not, un-”) + ἔκδοτος (ékdotos, “published”), from ἐκδίδωμι (ekdídōmi, “I publish”), from ἐκ- (ek-, “out”) + δίδωμι (dídōmi, “I give”). Virtually identical cognates in other European languages – French anecdote, German Anekdote, Spanish anécdota, among others.

Translations

Albanian: anekdotë Arabic: نَادِرَة Arabic: أُطْرُوفَة Arabic: أُفْكُوهَة Arabic: طُرْفَة Arabic: فُكَاهَة Arabic: لَطِيفَة Armenian: անեկդոտ Azerbaijani: anekdot Azerbaijani: lətifə Belarusian: анекдо́т Belarusian: анэкдо́т Bulgarian: анекдо́т Catalan: anècdota Chinese Mandarin: 逸事 Chinese Mandarin: 軼事 /轶事 Chinese Mandarin: 逸話 /逸话 Czech: anekdota Danish: anekdote Dutch: anekdote Esperanto: anekdoto Estonian: anekdoot Finnish: anekdootti Finnish: kasku Finnish: juttu Finnish: tarina French: anecdote Georgian: ანეკდოტი German: Anekdote Greek: ανέκδοτο Hebrew: אַנֵקְדוֹטָה Hungarian: anekdota Icelandic: atvikssaga Icelandic: anekdóta Ido: anekdoto Indonesian: anekdot Italian: aneddoto Japanese: 逸話 Kazakh: анекдот Kazakh: күлкілі әңгіме Korean: 일화 Kyrgyz: анекдот Latvian: anekdote Lithuanian: anekdotas Luxembourgish: Anekdot Macedonian: анегдота Malay: anekdot Mongolian: онигоо Norwegian Bokmål: anekdote Norwegian Nynorsk: anekdote Persian: لطیفه Polish: anegdota Portuguese: anedota Romanian: anecdotă
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